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Frequently Asked Questions

Sealmetrics is a consentless analytics platform that measures visits without cookies and without identifying individuals — and, on our self-assessment, without a consent banner for its own analytics (in Germany an open question; see Germany). It sits in the same category as Plausible and Matomo, and is the one to reach for when the requirement is measuring EU traffic without consent-driven gaps, with last-click attribution that does not depend on consent.

This FAQ provides clear and concise answers to the most common questions about Sealmetrics, how consentless analytics works, and how our measurement differs from traditional tools such as GA4.

Why did you adjust 30% of Direct traffic in GA4?​

Direct traffic in GA4 is currently heavily over-attributed.
When a visitor accepts cookies in the middle of their journey, GA4 reassigns that traffic to Direct instead of the correct source (organic, paid, social, etc.).

This inflates Direct traffic and damages the accuracy of source attribution.
Sealmetrics does not suffer from this issue because it does not depend on cookies or consent.

Why compare sessions (GA4) with clicks (Sealmetrics)?​

Because Sealmetrics does not identify people across sessions.

GA4 uses a persistent client ID to group everything one person does — across visits, days, and devices — into unified sessions and user counts. Sealmetrics deliberately has no such identifier:

  • Within a single browsing session (a session identifier with a ~2-hour inactivity window, computed in the browser from standard device characteristics and re-keyed on the server every day), Sealmetrics can tell a follow-up pageview apart from a new entrance — this is what powers aggregate metrics like Bounce Rate.
  • Across sessions there is no join: if the same person comes back tomorrow, that is a brand-new entrance. No history is carried forward, so no consent is needed.

This is why Sealmetrics measures entrances, not GA4-style "visits" tied to a persistent identity — and why the two numbers can differ for the same traffic.

How can you accurately track visitors if the data is not unique?​

What do you mean by “non-unique data”?

Sealmetrics records each hit the tracker sends from your website, with precision.
The methodology has been reviewed internally and legally, and is documented in full in What We Track; note that no supervisory authority certifies analytics tools, and Sealmetrics holds no third-party security certification.

If you want to test it yourself, open an account and watch real-time hits appear instantly.

There is no inflated or modelled data: we count the hits we receive. Ad blockers can still hide some visits.

What about conversion attribution?​

Sealmetrics uses Last-Click Attribution.

Based on our legal analysis, it is the only attribution model compatible with privacy regulations without requiring consent.
Multi-touch attribution requires individual tracking, which is not allowed without consent.

Can you use the same data layer as GA4?​

Yes, in most cases.

However, Sealmetrics must not be blocked by Consent Mode or a cookie banner.
Sealmetrics must fire always, otherwise it stops being consentless measurement.

You can send values from your data layer (ecommerce values, custom variables, events, etc.) exactly as with GA4.

Yes, absolutely.

This is why many customers start using Sealmetrics:
they need to uncover the real ROAS of their campaigns without losing the visitors who reject or ignore the cookie banner that cookie rejection typically costs in EU markets.

Once they validate that Sealmetrics shows the true business metrics, it becomes their single source of truth.

How resistant is your solution to ITP and similar browser protections?​

Sealmetrics sets no cookies and stores no identifiers on the device, so ITP's cookie limits and similar privacy protections have nothing of ours to expire.

In addition, we offer a first-party tracking system, which further increases reliability and ensures long-term measurement resilience.

What extra value do you offer if a server-side tracking setup is already in place?​

Even with server-side tracking:

According to CNIL, AEPD, and other European DPAs, you still must ask for consent if you are tracking individuals, even anonymously (see also EDPB Guidelines 2/2023 on the technical scope of ePrivacy Article 5(3)).

Server-side simply moves where data is processed
—it does not remove the need for consent.

Sealmetrics is different:
we do not track individuals.
That is why, on our assessment, Sealmetrics can operate without requiring user consent, and server-side cannot.

This means:

  • No consent banners (self-assessed; Germany: open question)
  • No consent loss
  • No consent-driven data gaps
  • We measure all the traffic you lose today to the cookie banner

Summary​

Sealmetrics delivers accurate analytics without tracking individuals, without cookies, and without needing consent.
This FAQ covers the core differences between traditional tools and consentless analytics, and explains why Sealmetrics is designed to comply with the GDPR and built privacy-first.

Written and maintained by the Sealmetrics Team